


Isometry

by Sincosma



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I know it's a lot to ask you to read a 200k word fic, M/M, Male Sheik (Legend of Zelda), This Is For You, author takes liberties with math functions, but i promise it's worth it, definitely cried while writing this, don't read unless you've finished Congruent, for those who followed Congruent for like 5 years, sequel to Congruent, this literally won't make any sense to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sincosma/pseuds/Sincosma
Summary: Derived from the old word isometría, isometry refers to the static distance between congruent pairs, ensuring the preservation of this distance, regardless of positioning.Sequel to Congruent. Link/male!Sheik, slash.
Relationships: Link/Sheik (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	Isometry

Isometry  
By Sincosma

There was a sort of beautiful simplicity about skinning an animal, once you managed to stomach the morals of it. That thin membrane between fur and flesh, so strong and yet so yielding when sliced from the right angle. It was still a new skill to him so his hands were clumsy and he barely breathed when that focused, but he took pleasure in such a concentrated task. It was the perfect remedy to the nebulous, unpredictable dread today brought with it. 

There was a rumble in the distance and Link stole a glance at the sky, spotting a dark curtain of clouds rolling down from the mountains. Who knew if the storm would head their way, but he wasn't going to risk his tools rusting. He took from the deer's body what he needed, throwing what was left into the fire. After lugging everything important into the shelter of their home, Link settled on the stump by the fire, whittling a piece of fresh pine into nothing as he watched over the valley.

The village of Brivn, nestled between the slopes of mountains that stood as sentries, was beginning to slowly glow as torches were lit one after another in the fading light. It was such a peaceful sight, perhaps made even more peaceful by the familiar footsteps coming from the path to his left.

Sheik stepped out of the trees, bag thrown over his shoulder, a tired but content look on his face. Link pushed himself to his feet, meeting him halfway and pulling the sack off his shoulder despite the grumble it earned.

"It wasn't that heavy." 

"Didn't say it was," Link replied, brushing the loose hairs out of Sheik's face as their Congruence shimmered together after a day apart. "Just doing my part."

Sheik let out a sigh, following him into the house. As they crossed the threshold, Link flicked a lazy hand, summoning fire to all the candles. "How was your day?" he asked, this time in Sheikah.

"Uneventful. Just tired from not sleeping well last night," he replied in his native tongue.

Link repeated the first word, throwing a quizzical look at Sheik, who translated dutifully. He said the word a few more times quietly to memorize it, putting the groceries in their proper places as Sheik gathered ingredients for dinner. Link always felt a little guilty for not having it cooked and ready for Sheik, but they had learned the hard way that actual preparation of food was very out of Link's wheelhouse.

Back outside to the fire and they worked in silence—Link did the things that needed two hands and Sheik did the rest. The storm was indeed drawing closer, blowing cold air down into the valley, and sending shudders through the trees.

"Think we'll finish before the storm hits?" Link asked, still speaking in Sheikah. The double consonants in the word for _before_ always tied his tongue, but Sheik insisted he was getting better.

"Guess we'll find out," he replied with a soft grin.

They sat in silence, the forest around them whispering in preparation for the storm, Link placing the deer meat over the fire for Sheik to season. As he leaned back and watched his companion work, his mind wandered over the events of the day, both the mundane tasks and the moments of panic in between. Sheik almost didn't leave in the morning because of the wrecked state that awaited Link’s waking mind.

Fingers were sliding into his hair, curling gently around the back of his neck and kneading at the tension there. The familiar warmth of their bond poured slowly down Link's spine. "Stop thinking so loud," Sheik said softly, speaking Hylian this time.

Link took a deep breath and closed his eyes, concentrating on the calming touches against his skin and through his hair. "Sorry, I—" 

"No apologies," Sheik said, voice stern but gentle. "Come here."

He held out his arm and Link gratefully shifted into his embrace, laying his head on the warm shoulder offered to him. Sheik sent soft waves of comfort over their bond, soft thoughts sanding down the rough edges of anxiety. He kissed the top of Link's head as thunder rumbled even closer now. "How was your day?" he asked in Sheikah.

Link closed his eyes, a small smile forcing its way out.

"Uneventful," he said, using the new word he'd learned. "Went hunting, visited Nell and fixed her fence _again_."

"I think she has a thing for you," Sheik commented, laughter hidden in his tone.

Link lifted his head, giving the Sheikah a wry smile. "Jealous?"

"Incredibly." It was another new word but the meaning was clear as it passed through the well-worn path of their Congruence, along with faint amusement that warmed Link up despite the growing chill of the storm.

"What are you going to do about it, then?" Link teased. He knew his grammar wasn't perfect but Sheik was never very picky about those sorts of things.

"Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll find out after dinner," was all Sheik said, this time in Hylian. He reluctantly pulled away, removing the finished meat from the fire as a few drops of rain fell on them; the storm would arrive any moment and the timing couldn't have been any more perfect.

It finally let loose as they began eating, the hypnotic rhythm cascading against the roof, filling his ears and putting his lingering worried thoughts into a lull. They ate in comfortable silence, as they did most nights, the intermittent flash of lightning occasionally making one of them jump. He doubted their war-forged reflexes would ever simmer down.

After dinner, Sheik washed their utensils in the water basin by the window, staring sightlessly into the downpour. And for a moment, Link just stood there, watching the lines of his body, trying not to recall a time when it had once been lifeless in his arms and—

He squeezed his eyes shut, casting the memory out of his mind as hard and fast as he could. Sheik could sense it, he knew, but the other wasn't going to intervene unless Link went too off the rails.

Distraction. Distraction would certainly help.

Link stepped behind Sheik, winding his arms around torso and burrowing his face through a curtain of thick blonde hair to press his lips to the back of his neck. 

"Thank you for dinner," he whispered, in Sheikah once more.

He could feel the smile through their Congruence, a deep swell of affection and happiness that bathed his mind in calm. Sheik abandoned his task, twisting around in Link's arms to kiss him gently, fingers tracing the shape of his jaw and up into his hairline.

 _Thank you for catching it_ , Sheik sent through their bond, unwilling to interrupt their kiss.

Sheik slowly guided them backwards through the main room, into the small alcove where they kept their bed. Link parted lips just a little to whisper, "So, you really Nell has a _thing_ for me?"

He could feel the humor rushing through their Congruence, along with a little spike of want. 

"Not if I have anything to do with it," was Sheik's reply, the heat in his voice sending a jolt of excitement through Link's gut.

And then Sheik's mouth was on his throat, hand unbuckling his belt with ease, letting it clatter to the floor. Link pulled out the tie holding back those heavenly strands of gold and felt it tumble around his shoulders. 

Safe. He felt safe. Even with the war two years in the distance, there were still demons that invaded this new peace he had found, wishing he could hide away from the world and never reemerge. But here, in Sheik's arms, so far from Hyrule they likely couldn't find their way back without a map, he knew he was safe. And he pushed all of that through their Congruence, waves of happiness and deep affection colliding with his own.

But two years ago, this body pressed to his now, lay still in his arms, blood-soaked and lifeless in a tiny cave in the Nether. Two years ago to the day. Link wished calendars didn't exist, that he wasn't tortured into remembering that day with such accuracy, such clarity. Two years ago, had Sheik not been recycled, _this_ future never would've been possible and— 

Sheik lifted his head, eyes flashing in the candlelight. He pulled Link's tunic off, and then his own. He reached down and took Link's hand, pressing it to Sheik's chest where the steady thrum of a heartbeat could be felt. He mirrored the gesture, pressing his palm right below the amulet resting against Link’s collarbone.

"What do you feel?" Sheik asked, as he always did when he sensed Link slipping into darker places.

Link took a deep breath, focusing on the reliable rhythm pulsing against his palm. "A heartbeat."

"What does it mean when someone has a heartbeat," he whispered, brushing his lips against Link's.

"They’re alive," Link replied obediently, pushing those words into the storm his thoughts were starting to become. " _You're_ alive."

"Put the past back where it belongs and let go, Link. I’ve got you." The words were breathed into his ear, sending shivers over his body. 

Link pressed him down onto the bed, losing himself in the worship of Sheik's body, a body he knew so well now. Every scar's story had been told by now and he remembered each one as he kissed it. He knew the places that drew the best sounds from his lover and the places that, while deserving of love, required more care. He bit down on the skin where neck met shoulder, earning a deep moan, but then he kissed gently over the scarred remains of his shoulder, rewarded with a soft sigh.

And when Sheik got too antsy, too dissatisfied with his options beneath, he pinned Link down and returned all of that passion and attention and care. He knew that after a life of protecting others and standing in the line of fire, all Link really wanted and needed was to be shielded from the world, even for a short time. To allow himself to relinquish control and feel safe doing so. It had taken so long to get to this point, to completely surrender, but they had both learned that Link's most peaceful moments, where the trauma of the past couldn't reach him, was when someone else had all the control. He could lose himself in the sensations, nothing expected from him but to exist.

It seemed almost too symbolic that Sheik needed the exact opposite, the perfect balance to Link. He had been the son of royalty and destined to lead his people, only for his life to spiral out of control, his future torn from his grasp. He was forced into a completely different narrative, guarding a princess, guiding a hero, doing _exactly_ what was expected of him at the cost of his own free will. Even after the war, he had little control over his life. As incredible of a ruler as Zelda was, it was only the nature of his post that what she did and said directly affected his life in every way.

Now he had control. Over his life and _their_ life together. So Link freely gave it. The perfect dance of opposite roles and absolute trust. And when they climaxed, Sheik consumed all his thoughts, pressed down and held fast by the weight above him.

In the sweaty aftermath, they lay together in a sleepy, sated daze. The storm had passed and the candles were almost burned out. Illuminated by dim light, Sheik's molten, heavy-lidded eyes held his gaze, body braced above him by just an elbow. Link’s thumb traced the triangles inked into his chin, the angles of his brows, the slope of his nose.

"Thank you for being with me," Link whispered.

Sheik opened his eyes fully, fixing him with an expression that managed to be exasperated and loving all at once. "You don't need to thank me for that."

"No, but I want to," Link said quietly. "I love you."

Sheik laid beside him, reaching forward and tugging him closer despite the heat. He held him tightly, as though Link would vanish without a tether to reality. "I love you," he replied, lips moving against Link's forehead.

They fell asleep as they always did—locked together so they wouldn't lose their way, even when Link awoke from a whole suite of nightmares. He always tried to pull away, calm down somewhere else so Sheik wouldn't lose sleep, but each time he was manhandled back into the curve of the Sheikah's body and instructed to match their breathing. It was a common dance, sometimes with switching roles, but always with the unspoken rule that no one suffers alone.

In the morning, Link could tell Sheik was up to something. He had a mysterious, muted smile on his lips that, despite the questions, he wouldn't explain. Only that they were going down to the village. Which Link wasn't thrilled about.

It wasn't that he hated people. He just still struggled to turn off what Sheik had begun called "Hero Brain," even after two years. The moment he saw a villager in need or a problem to solve, he jumped into the action without a second thought. It was only Sheik that could stop him from becoming the Hero of Time again, as though his body naturally operated that way.

They made the trek into Brivn, people greeting Sheik as they passed—as the only alchemist capable of making health potions for miles, he had become very popular with the locals. They knew Link, but more for pest control. He was who they called when monsters wandered too close and at first, Link thought he'd be frustrated that, despite leaving Hyrule, he was _still_ getting into fights. But it kept him sharp. Many of his newer nightmares played on an intense fear of being powerless and out of practice should someone or something attack them.

Sheik led them to the edge of the Alo River, a modest and peaceful current that ran directly through the village. He settled on the grass and gestured for Link to join him. 

"I want to tell you a story," he began as Link took a seat across from him, a smile already playing on his lips. It reminded him vividly of the days in the Sacred Meadow with Saria, lying in the grass as he listened to her recount what The Great Deku Tree had taught the Kokiri children that day. But Sheik wasn't really the story type, so his curiosity was piqued.

"It's no secret that the color red is an important one to the Sheikah people. It's said that our people and the Gerudo were both given punishments, the factor that severed our tribes so far apart, we act and look nothing alike anymore. Nameth once told me that the original people were very powerful magic users, so it's hardly surprising that many of them were tasked with protecting the Goddess Hylia during a very tumultuous time in history. 

While those that weren't chosen would commit crimes of their own and receive their bloodline curse as punishment, what would become Sheikah people also went astray. In her greatest moment of need, they failed the Goddess Hylia, so the blood of the suffering Goddess was left permanently in their eyes so that all would see them for untrustworthy outcasts they were. It has taken thousands of years for the Sheikah people to find peace and move on from mistakes made so long ago. We reclaimed this color and, while many felt compelled to strive for redemption by continuing to safeguard Hylia’s reincarnations, the rest carved their own lives in different places. 

“The red Sheikah eye represents truth and protection from evil. But the color itself represents, more than anything else, the bonds between our people. Our elders always said that red string ties Sheikah together and, could you see the threads themselves, it would appear as a delicate web of fate. It’s because of this that practices were adopted for certain events in life. Becoming a warrior and making your first kill granted these.” He reached up and dragged a finger over the three red triangles over his chin. “Like these shapes sit above the Eye of Truth, they are inked beneath the mouth as the Voice of Truth. A father would dip his hand in red paint and press his handprint on the stomach of his pregnant wife, a mark of creation through union. And those that would marry would be inked with red rings around the wrists of them each so when they held hands, the red thread would be connected."

Sheik reached into his bag and pulled from it a small jar of red ink, extending it out for him to take. Link suddenly felt like all the air had been siphoned out of his lungs.

"You'll have to cast the spell."

Link swallowed thickly, feeling emotion tug in his throat. "Teach me the spell."

Over the well-worn path of their Congruence, Sheik pushed the knowledge of it into his mind. The process was on the more complex side, but Link's knowledge and skill of magic had improved so much over time, it wasn't as intimidating as it might have been two years ago. Zelda would've been proud.

For a moment, he gazed down at the ink, what would be the base for the Sheikah spell. He almost wanted to laugh—marriage seemed almost like a needless formality now that they were bound by the power of Congruent. They skipped marriage and went straight to _I would die without you_. He couldn't help but laugh.

"It feels like we skipped a few steps," Link said, finally looking up into Sheik's molten eyes, seeing the same humor but also a softness that still, after all this time, _still_ made his stomach swoop.

"Maybe," he admitted, slipping into Sheikah, "but, in many ways, you're part of the Vrika tribe now. And we're all that's left."

Sadness pressed through their bond, taking Link by surprise and summoning tears to his eyes. He hadn't thought of it that way and, while it was heart-wrenching, he was still unspeakably honored to be considered as such. Sheik reached out, brushing his thumb over a tear Link hadn't noticed on his cheek.

"Are you saying yes, then?"

He gave another laugh, a wet one this time. "That is a stupid question, Sheik."

Ths Sheikah reached forward, pulling him into a soft, heart-achingly gentle kiss. And through their bond, there was nothing but a flow of gratitude and love. For a moment, Link wondered what he could've possibly done to deserve this person, this much love, a bittersweet but mostly happy ending. He wouldn't have seen this for himself years ago, waking up from a 7-year slumber to a ruined kingdom. Or trudging through endless desert to visit a city made a graveyard. Or standing before Foursky's armies with the terror of premonition and prophecy fulfilled moments away.

But they were here. They made it.

Sheik held out his left hand, his only hand. 

Link curled his right hand Sheik's, uncorking the ink and setting it in the grass below. Following the instructions now imprinted in his mind, he dipped two fingers in the ink, murmuring the Sheikah incantation, and slowly tracing a ring around each of their wrists. The spell stung, carving a thin line in their flesh, not yet visible through the messy circle of crimson ink drawn by fingers.

And when it was done, Link met Sheik's eyes, getting lost in that warm gaze for a moment. He was tugged to his feet and they knelt by the river, Sheik pulling their joined hands below the flowing water, washing away the ink. After a few moments, all that was left behind were two threads of scarlet, drawn flawlessly into the skin like the shapes below Sheik's lips. 

Link opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, Sheik dragged him close like a drowning man, slotting their lips together. Emotions, fierce and overwhelming, crashed over each other through their bond. He wound his fingers through thick hair as Sheik wrapped his arms so tightly around Link's back, it almost felt like they would fuse together from the pressure.

"I know I can't fix everything," Sheik whispered against his lips. "I can't make you forget the past or convince your mind to stop the attacks before they start. The memory of my death, that horrible moment in the Nether, may never fade. But, I wanted to give you a better anniversary, something to help you through the bad ones. I want the day after to be the memory of _this_."

He pulled Link's wrist to his mouth, kissing along that circle gently, as though it were a wound in need of a mother's healing.

"Thank you," Link whispered, unable to speak any more than that, too overwhelmed with emotion. Pulling him close, Link buried his face in Sheik's neck, finding sanctuary in the warm skin there.

Yes, maybe Sheik was right. Despite their connection, their bond, their _love_ , these memories would never be wiped from his memory. And it was easy to mourn that, to give into it like surrendering to an eternal storm. But what Sheik gave him wasn't an escape, but instead something new. Maybe he never saw himself as a married man—Goddesses, he almost wanted to scoff at the thought—but this was different. 

It was a new start. A new chapter. The closing of the past, the ending of a passage, war-torn and aching. This new chapter, their life here, anywhere, _together_ —it was enough.

It was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm crying. You're crying. We're both crying. Writing this was incredibly difficult for many reasons. But I wanted to write this because this story has been in my head for a while, a constant comfort that I think to when I remember or reread Congruent. I realized that, while we've all really been goin' through it this unprecedented event, maybe we could ALL use something fucking nice.
> 
> I hope this felt as much like coming home as it did for me.  
> I love you guys. <3


End file.
